The Grace Year
Ratings81
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings81
Average rating3.7
The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power. Optioned by Universal and Elizabeth Banks to be a major motion picture! “A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel and an absolute page-turner. Liggett’s deeply suspenseful book brilliantly explores the high cost of a misogynistic world that denies women power and does it with a heart-in-your-throat, action-driven story that’s equal parts horror-laden fairy tale, survival story, romance, and resistance manifesto. I couldn’t stop reading.” – Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author Survive the year. No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden. In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive. Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other. With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.
Reviews with the most likes.
“The things we do to girls. Whether we put them on pedestals only to tear them down, or use them for parts and holes, we're all complicit in this.”
An interesting novel that doesn't live up to the hype.
Tierney, a completely bland narrator, is sent, along with all the other girls of her age, to live in the woods for a year. How this tradition came to be established is never touched upon; and no one is allowed to talk about it, which is terribly convenient from a story-telling perspective if you haven't got a rationale for your novel's premise. The pacing's solid but all the characters are like stick figures and the world-building is flimsy. Ultimately, it felt like a concept in search of a story.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press who very kindly sent me an advance review copy.
I just loved and hated this book, and it was amazing!
[PT]
Bom, quando eu achava que a era das distopias já tinha acabado, em 2019 saiu o livro O ano de Graça, ou Grace Year em original. E devo dizer que isto foi uma das leituras mais psicadélicas e fascinantes que eu li.
Voltamos à Era Negra modernizada, onde a religião predomina todas as decisões e a mulher é vista apenas como um “acessório” nesta sociedade patriarcal. Além disso, a mulher ao nascer já é impura pois porque tem a capacidade de seduzir o homem e isso é inadmissível. De forma as mulheres serem purificadas, elas passam um ano naquilo que se chama “Ano de Graça” quando atingem os 16 anos, no entanto, nenhuma mulher mais velha fala sobre esse ano e sabe-se que este afeta muito o estado físico e psicológico das mesmas. Sendo também que existem mulheres que nunca voltam. Acompanhamos então uma rapariga de 16 anos Tierney James que vai para o seu Ano de Graça para ser purificada.
Devo admitir que este livro dispertou-me horror, sentimento de incapacidade e injustiça como poucos o conseguiram. Eu não consegui parar de ler até chegar ao final do livro, porque isto prendeu-me demasiado. A refleção das relações entre homens e mulheres são muito semelhantes daquilo que encontramos por vezes nos nossos dias, e também a própria relação entre mulheres pode ser aproximada às muitas relações atuais.
É um livro horrível, mas muito bem escrito!
